SEATTLE – Lease Crutcher Lewis (Lewis) announced today the promotion of Coriann Presser to President of the company’s Washington Division.
Presser joined Lewis in 2005 as an intern and has since served in the roles of project engineer, project manager, project executive, and most recently operations director leading the company’s Life Science market sector. In her tenure, she has been a champion of operational excellence and led some of Lewis’ most innovative projects creating space for life saving research and development, including Building Cure for Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, set to start construction in late 2025.
“Coriann is an accomplished project and business unit leader, who has dedicated herself to delivering value for our clients, developing our people and building meaningful relationships within our community and industry,” said Chief Executive Officer Bart Ricketts. “Lewis’ Washington Division is well positioned to continue to thrive and grow under her leadership.”
Presser serves on the board of directors for the Washington chapter of NAIOP and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and community events advancing life science development and women in construction. She also has been instrumental in leading Lewis’ Women’s Development Group, aimed at providing professional development resources and a forum for female employees to share best practices.
She succeeds Jay Sorensen, who joined the company in 1997 and served as Washington Division president for the past two years, crowning an accomplished career at Lewis with progressive leadership positions and having played a critical role in workforce development, recruitment and the company’s work to advance diversity, equity and inclusion.
A 100-percent employee-owned company, Lewis employs 813 people in Washington and Oregon state.
Although the local building industry continues to face headwinds, Lewis is leveraging its longstanding client relationships and expertise including its industry-leading Progressive Design Build project delivery, to build on its portfolio of work. The company is also expanding into newer market sectors, including data center work through its Data Center and Advanced Technology division, to ensure sustained growth and success.
In March 2023, the company’s Washington division launched a new subsidiary business unit, Crutcher Structures. Historically, Lewis has self-performed structural work on its projects. With the launch of the new business unit, Crutcher Structures offers these same services to a broader group of customers as a subcontractor, allowing for standardization and specialization, and delivering better value, quality and schedule for all clients and more reliable work for Lewis craftspeople.
The firm also recently formed the Lease Crutcher Lewis Foundation, a donor advised fund in partnership with the Seattle Foundation and Oregon Community Foundation. The Lease Crutcher Lewis Foundation, funded with an initial contribution from company board chairman Bill Lewis, invests in scholarships supporting historically underrepresented people in the construction industry and makes grants to non-profits that help build a more diverse workforce for the industry.
The company’s ongoing work in Seattle includes life science and office projects such as 701 Dexter, 1916 Boren, 222 5th Ave N, and Chapter Building I. Other projects include the Seattle Metro Logistics multistory warehouse in South Seattle and Washington State University’s Schweitzer Engineering Hall in Pullman.
Earlier this year, Lewis was selected to build the Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute Building for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, a Lewis client of more than two decades. The Sloan project is currently in preconstruction.